A note of worry crept into Rainbow Dash's voice. "So um, Twilight... I guess I forgot to ask you before I left... how am I supposed to get back to the future?"

"Oh, that shouldn't be too hard. Forward, backward, why would one be significantly more difficult than the other? I'm sure once I work out one direction the other will follow. More importantly, what are you supposed to do while you wait? You can't just go out there, you could bump into yourself and cause SERIOUS damage to the spacetime continuum!"

"Yeah yeah race lime whatever. You don't send me back here for like, a WEEK! You know I can't stay cooped up in a library for that long! I just need to avoid myself, right?"

"Dash, if you run into yourself it could very well be the end of Equestria!"

"Yeah, so I just have to stay away from wherever I am for a week. Like right now I'm at Sweet Apple Acres and then I think I went to Sugarcube Corner. So as long as I stay away from both of those places today, I shouldn't see myself."

"But even if you don't bump into yourself directly, some other pony could see you in one place and then turn around and see you again somewhere else! Ponies will get suspicious, and if anypony talks to you about it you might decide to try to investigate!"

"But I didn't! I was there, I would know! There was some confusion. My friends said a lot of things that didn't make any sense, but I never bothered looking into it. I just figured everypony was going crazy. But now that I know crazy magic stuff was going on with me from the future, don't I have to go out and CAUSE my friends to say all those weird things? To stabilize the time loop whatevers?"

Twilight hadn't expected Dash to be right. She REALLY hadn't expected herself to be wrong. With a frustrated 'fine', she shooed Dash away and got back to work.

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The cyan pegasus thought to herself about all the mischief she could pull off. She wouldn't even have to deal with the consequences! Well, she would, but she already did? Not her, the other one. Whatever, that was the past. This. The present was the past. Or, something? It was making her head hurt, but she couldn't come up with any reason she shouldn't go all out on everything. The only limit was that she had to make sure not to be in the same place that she already was. Now where was she, again? This might be harder than she thought.

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Rainbow Dash was speeding away from Sweet Apple Acres, deciding to figure out what was up with Applejack later. She was kinda hungry, maybe she would stop by Sugarcube Corner and pick up something sweet. Steering herself in the right direction, she rocketed off toward Ponyville.

And directly into Scootaloo. What in the hay was SHE doing up in the air? She couldn't fly yet!

"OHMYGOSHRAINBOWDASH! Do... do you want to do something?" Scootaloo was a vibrating orange mass of energy. She didn't seem even the least bit injured, which was good because it meant Dash could leave.

"Heya squirt, sorry but I gotta fly."

Scootaloo didn't try to hide her disappointment at the immediate rejection.

"Aw, cheer up kid. How about later today, we can go hang out or something?"

"YOU MEAN IT?!?"

"Sure, I guess. Later." With that she was gone and Scootaloo's vibrations began to slow down. She picked her scooter back up and looked at the 'ramp' she had just gone flying off of. Deciding against another run, she turned around and stared. "RAINBOWDASH! I thought you had something you needed to go do. Does this mean you don't? ARE YOU FREE RIGHT NOW? CAN WE HANG OUT YET? IT'S LATER!"

Dash looked at the filly bouncing in place, before remembering the encounter that had just taken place. Scootaloo could be a little bit too eager at times, but what else was Dash going to go do? She couldn't go to Sugarcube Corner, and just to be safe she should probably stay out of Ponyville for a bit. She wasn't entirely sure what else she had done that evening. She could probably go to Fluttershy's place and hang around there for a little, but that wouldn't be very fun. Applejack would be way too curious about what was going on and probably really mad at her for wrecking half the farm.

That thought made Dash's heart sink. She didn't like upsetting any of her friends, but she really couldn't stand making AJ unhappy. She wasn't sure when exactly... THOSE feelings had started, but even before then she had felt more comfortable around AJ than her other friends. Twilight was too much of an Egghead. Fluttershy was too afraid to do anything fun. Rarity was... ugh, RARITY. Pinkie Pie was pretty great sometimes, but she could just be so random. It didn't come as too much of a surprise to Dash the day she realized how she really felt about her. It did surprise her yesterday to find out the beautiful orange mare felt the same way about her. She would have to make sure to spend LOTS of time at the farm when she got back.

As much as she really wanted to go talk to Applejack right now, she knew that probably wouldn't be a good idea. They hadn't had 'the big talk' yet, and Dash was currently wrapped up in ridiculous time shenanigans. Well, they DID have the talk, but that was before. Er, after. Whatever. Dash's head was starting to hurt again. Without a lot of other options, she decided to spend some time with her biggest little fan.

"Alright Scoots, whaddaya wanna do?"

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Rainbow Dash came barreling out of nowhere and almost slammed into Applejack. Stumbling onto her hooves, she wobbled over to the farmer having not yet shaken the stars out of her vision. Giving her head one quick shake, she sucked in a sharp breathe to prepare herself to do something very difficult. Stupid Twilight, always being right about everything.

She knew the other mare felt the same way about her for a while too, but somehow knowing this took place before she had told her that made her nervous. For some foalish reason, she was afraid THIS Applejack wouldn't return her feelings. But she had to do this. The fate of Equestria could be hanging in the balance.

"Rainbow, whut are you doing back here? I thought I told ya' that" AJ was interrupted as Dash quickly grabbed her in a tight embrace.

"APPLEJACKILOVEYOUOKAYGOTTAGOBYE!" she managed to squeeze out in about a second before planting a quick kiss and flying away at an impossible speed.